KIACC - public meeting

They rarely meet in public, so make the most of this opportunity. There's some meaty stuff on the agenda - how do you feel about night flights over Herne Bay? This may be your only chance to tell Charles Buchanan and Brian White in person. KENT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE MEETING: Friday 17th September 2010

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Manston: healthy and safe?

Brian Urwin (of the Ramsgate Alliance) spells it out, and tells the world. Public safety zones, fuel dumps, fireworks factory, flaky airlines, bird strike, radar interference from the windfarm, and NOISE... all this and more points to Manston not being particularly healthy or safe.

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Elite property agency to market business park

Clipping: thisiskent

Property agent Savills has been appointed to market and develop the publicly owned Manston Business Park. The decision to bring in the Kent and London-based firm has been taken by East Kent Opportunities (EKO), a partnership founded by Kent county and Thanet district councils. The partnership, which includes Thanet council chief executive Richard Samuel among its directors, has this year needed to ask for more money from the public purse to keep running.

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Hitch with noise monitor

Clipping: thisiskent

Problems with a machine used to monitor the noise created by Manston Airport has been blamed on a technical hitch. In July, the Isle of Thanet Gazette reported how members of the Kent International Airport Consultative Committee had been angry to find that a mobile noise monitoring system run by Thanet council had not been working for some months.

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Who knows how noisy

A mobile noise monitor designed to record the volume of flights from Manston airport is still out of action. The machine, which can be taken to different locations across Thanet, is the only one that can be moved from set locations to monitor the level of disturbance made by planes. However, it is lying unused because there are problems with data collection and taking the information from it. Thanet council could not say, or declined to say, exactly how long it had been out of use. A spokeswoman would only say it had not been in use “since early this year”.

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Buchanan hails return of scheduled flights

A new airport chief has hailed the return of scheduled services as a major milestone for Manston. Charles Buchanan, who has completed his first month as the new chief executive at Kent International Airport, joined the Manston operation, run by New Zealand company Infratil, shortly after the launch of Flybe scheduled services to Edinburgh. A new service to Manchester is due to start in September. Flybe is the first scheduled operator to use KIA since the demise of EUjet several years ago.

Mr Buchanan has taken over from Matt Clarke who has returned to his native New Zealand. He was previously strategy and communications director at London City Airport, and has also held posts with Channel Tunnel operator Eurotunnel. Mr Buchanan said:

"The restarting of daily passenger services to Edinburgh in May was a major milestone for Manston. The commitment that Flybe have shown by announcing daily departures to Manchester too is an endorsement of the work of the team and the potential the airport has to offer. Having a successful regional airport is a major element in the regeneration of an area, not only by providing direct employment, but also giving access to the markets of the world."

Infratil is aiming to invest £3m in a new radar system at Manston which is designed to ensure the airport is able to operate successfully as wind farms are developed offshore the Thanet coast, including the giant London Array.

kentonline 28th Jul 2010

Consultation to follow flight figures

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MANSTON airport will reveal how many planes it wants to fly at night before a survey is taken of residents' views. The airport's new chief executive Charles Buchanan told the Isle of Thanet Gazette this week he will tell Thanet council the number of "night flight quota points" the airport wants within the next three weeks. The council will then, in September, run a public consultation on the issue and the airport's future.

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New boss says airport can boost Thanet

Charles Buchanan

Clipping: thisiskent

THE new chief executive of Manston airport has underlined the part he believes it can play in regenerating Thanet. As revealed in last week's Isle of Thanet Gazette, Charles Buchanan took up the job on July 1. He was strategy and communications director at London City Airport, and has also held posts with Eurotunnel.

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Manston as seen from afar

Manston needs much more than a transfusion if it is to succeed - being transplanted to somewhere with a large and well-populated catchment area might just do the trick.

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New chief appointed at Manston airport

Charles Buchanan

Clipping: thisiskent

A new chief executive has been appointed to run Kent International Airport Manston. Before joining airport owners Infratil Charles Buchanan worked for more than 10 years at London City Airport, ultimately as Strategy and Communications Director. During this time he was responsible for the airport’s master plan and gaining planning permission to increase the permitted movement numbers from 73,000 to 120,000 per year.

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Iran Air: European ban in July 2010

Most of Iran Air's jets will be banned from flying to the EU because of safety concerns, the European Commission says.

The ban affects Airbus A320, Boeing 727 and 747 jets - two-thirds of Iran Air's fleet. The Commission said the ban was on safety grounds, and was not related to sanctions imposed on Iran because of its nuclear programme.

Iran has denied a claim that its planes are being prevented from refuelling at some foreign airports. Earlier an Iranian aviation official had accused the UK, Germany and the United Arab Emirates of refusing to supply fuel for Iranian airliners. But a foreign ministry spokesman said on Tuesday that "no such limitation has been imposed". And the UK, Germany and UAE all denied the claim.

Last week the US approved new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme. Tehran says its nuclear industry is for peaceful purposes, but Western powers fear it is trying to develop a bomb.

A US ban on spare parts for Iranian jets has hit Iran Air's maintenance operation, the Associated Press news agency reports.

BBC 6th Jul 2010

Manston-Edinburgh flights start

Airline Flybe is to launch a service to Manchester from Manston from the autumn. The announcement comes on the day Kent International Airport launches its Edinburgh service. The Manchester schedule is to start from September 6.

Meanwhile, scheduled flights returned to Kent International Airport when Flybe's Manston-Edinburgh service took off for the first time last Thursday (20th May 2010).

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Jobs created at Manston for Flybe flights

The new Flybe daily passenger service from Manston to Edinburgh has helped to create 20 new jobs at Kent International Airport. Airport owners Infratil say all the new recruits all live locally. Their task will be to ensure the passengers of Flybe, Newmarket Holidays and CI Travel which operates charter flights and holidays to Jersey, "have the best possible experience when passing through the airport", says the company.

The new members of staff will be responsible for check-in and customer service, as well as sales and marketing, operating the shop and the security of the airport. Manston now employs 112 staff to manage the airport's passenger and freight operations, including the new recruits who have just completed their training.

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FlyBe Bombardiers at Manston

Better planes for better landings?

I notice to my delight that the Bombardier Q400 FlyBe will be flying twixt Edinburgh and Manston is cleared for the 5.5° approach at London City. This is much steeper than the approach most planes use over Herne Bay.

Will Flybe be taking advantage of that when they land from the west at Manston? It would mean they’ll be flying far higher over the populated areas before starting their final descent and will therefore be less of a nuisance in terms of noise.

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Thanet to play a crucial role in 21st Century Kent

Manston airport will play a pivotal part in Kent's role as the UK's "front door", according to a new report which sets out a long-term vision for the county. The report, commissioned by Kent County Council (KCC) and put together by one of the world's leading architects, Sir Terry Farrell, sets out ambitious plans designed to unlock the area's economic potential.

Many of the aspirations centred on the benefits stemming from the high speed rail line, which council chiefs plan to extend from Ashford and Thanet, further reducing journey times to central London. But infrastructure improvements are also planned at Kent International Airport, which the report says will have a "multimodal interchange" that is linked to the high speed line and forms part of a "co-ordinated national airport network". By 2030, rail passengers will even be able to check in at Ashford International to catch a flight out of Manston.

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Passenger flight plans grounded at Manston

The global financial crisis has delayed plans to run more passenger services out of Kent International Airport. But airport chiefs, confident it is a short-term dip, have published a master plan that foresees gradual expansion over the next 20 years to around six million passengers a year. Freight operations are forecast to reach 400,000 tonnes. Matt Clarke, KIA chief executive, said:

"Like most businesses in the UK aviation marketplace our business has felt the impact of the recession. Our air cargo business has proved itself to be resilient but the recent market activity has delayed our plans for passenger service expansion in 2009.

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Cost of airport flights consultation revealed

Clipping: thisiskent

THE cost of public consultation over a proposal to allow night flights from Manston airport is likely to cost £80,000. A report due to go to Thanet council on Thursday says money needs to be found to carry out the survey which has been prompted by an application to change the night-time flying policy which has been made by airport owners Infratil.

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Public Consultation 2009

When will it ever start?

As with comedy, the secret of good consultation is... timing. I was wondering what was happening about the public consultation on night flights that TDC had promised, so I emailed Anona Somasundaram, the Democratic Services Officer in charge of the AWP:

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Quiet wisdom

There are people, it is true who are not sensitive to noise; but they are just the very people who are not sensitive to argument, or thought, or poetry, or art, in a word, to any kind of intellectual influence. The reason of it is that the tissue of their brains is of a very rough and coarse quality.

from "On Noise" by Arthur Schopenhauer, 1851

Wiggins' routes discovered

A red letter day, dear reader. One of my undercover researchers (codename: Casey) has unearthed a map of the routes agreed between Wiggins and TDC many moons ago. Apparently one of the lead negotiators from the TDC side was Cllr Harrison. These 'people-friendly' routes didn't make it into the Section 106 Agreement due to an oversight by, er, Cllr Harrison. Shame.

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